Group mulls options for public financing of elections

Sunday

Sep 28, 2008 at 3:15 AMSep 28, 2008 at 3:42 AM

By ADAM D. KRAUSS

Former state Sen. Jim Rubens, who's part of a state commission brainstorming ways to create a public campaign finance system for New Hampshire, said change is needed so candidates put voters on the same level as contributors writing big checks.

"Having been a candidate myself," he said. "I can tell you that ... you end up listening more carefully to the people who wrote $1,000-plus checks. It's a fact of life. In a private system you need those people. The people who write the $25 checks fall into the anonymous scale, and the people who write the $1,000 checks — you know their names."

The commission has been at work since August and has until Dec. 1 to make recommendations.

The New Hampshire Coalition for Public Funding of Elections, a coalition of groups and individuals, has provided the commission with data on the cost of running for governor, the Senate and the five-member Executive Council — the three races on which the commission is focusing.

There's consensus that House races don't need to be included because they are relatively inexpensive to run, said Rye resident John Rauh, a commission member and president and founder of the Concord-based Americans for Campaign Reform.

The coalition, with the help of students from Antioch University New England, has been fine tuning some of its data this weekend to make sure it is capturing the true cost of campaigns, and not just what candidates raised, said Cathy Silber, the coalition's coordinator.

"We want to be scrupulously careful and make sure we didn't miss" anything, she said.

While the organization is preparing to release updated figures Friday, so far, research has found that in 2006, candidates spent more than $2.5 million competing in primary and general election campaigns across each of the state's 24 Senate districts, with candidates spending on average $54,643. The total expenditures are almost $577,000 more than 2004, when candidates spent on average $40,478.

The research also found Executive Council candidates, spending on average $70,900, expended a combined $879,134 in 2006 — nearly $519,000 more than in 2004. More than $9.4 million was expended in the 2004 governor's race, much more than the nearly $2.23 million that was spent in 2006, when there was a less competitive race.

Commission members said they anticipate the system needing more money than what was spent in past election cycles because races will continue to get more competitive, and they want to ensure there's enough funds to allow a plurality of candidates to run in any race.

The commission's work includes coming up with a system cost, funding model and funding source. The system, should it be approved by the Legislature and signed into law, cannot rely on the state's general fund.

Commissioners have floated several ideas for funding, and they're set to hear from Maine officials Friday to learn about that state's program.

Some ideas so far include: asking residents to note on their tax returns if they want to give, beyond their obligations, to the system, and having a surcharge on driver's licenses, political advertising or permits for candidate signs. There's even been talk of taxing candy, which Brad Cook, a Manchester attorney and the commission's chairman, said was likely too "ridiculous" to move forward.

At least three of the seven members making up the N.H. Public Funding of Elections Commission who were interviewed say $10 million to $15 million is needed for the system to adequately fund governor's, Senate and Executive Council races.

Cook said that range is "probably the minimum" amount that would be needed if the system was implemented to cover all three races at once.

"Some people have talked as high as $30 million," he said.

Stuart Comstock-Gay, a Concord resident and commission member who's the director of the democracy program at the New York City-based Demos: A Network of Ideas and Action, said the lower amount is a "comfortable range" to begin exploring how much money is needed.

Rubens, who lives in Etna and served two terms in the late 1990s, said the funding would have to be around that in order for the system to be sufficiently funded.

"Gone are the days of going around at the town dumps and handing out fliers to the households in your district," he said. "Now, in the highly-contested state Senate races, there are paid operatives, paid field staff, television, glossy colored mailers and opposition research. You can't run an effective campaign without doing all of those things. It's unilateral disarmament if you don't do all of those things in a competitive race."

Commission members said the cost would vary depending on how many candidates make use of the voluntary system. But they said it needs to be robust enough to attract candidates and ensure they can run credible campaigns.

Still, a line needs to be drawn at just how much money should be provided, said Rauh, of the Americans for Campaign Reform. He indicated consensus has formed around the idea that "enough works."

"You don't have to have the most," he said, "but you have to have enough."

Commission members said a public campaign finance system will ensure candidates with fewer resources — whether it be personal fortunes or name recognition — get a fair chance to run for office and voters' voices aren't drowned out by campaign contributors.

The system would also help candidates listen to a "broad range" of views, Comstock-Gay said.

Rubens said it's fair to ask residents to support a system in some way, even though they'd likely be financing a run of someone with views they don't agree with.

He said residents are already paying "hundreds or thousands of times more" in the form of taxes that go to companies and interests that secure government contracts from elected officials who benefited from their campaign contributions.

In coming up with a potential funding source for a public financing system, the commission has several resources with which to work. A 2003 report by the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles identified more than 40 ideas for revenue, including special license plates to support "political reform" or "clean money" and fees or surcharges on bids for state contracts.

Rubens said it's clear the state won't be able to support the system if it relies on grants from foundations or individual contributions.

Fourteen states currently have public campaign financing systems, and another 10, by primarily relying on taxpayer contributions to political parties through their tax returns, provide minimal public financing to candidates and parties, according to Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit government advocacy organization based in Washington.

Commission members are also grappling with the question of who should qualify for public funding.

Cook, the chairman, said Maine's system is serving as a good model because it requires candidates raise a certain amount of $5 contributions. The Maine system, with about an 80 percent participation rate, relies on $2 million a year from the general fund, with additional funding dependent on candidates' qualifying contributions, taxpayer contributions and interest on the system's fund.

"You want to make it difficult for someone to qualify for public funding because you can't have everybody" relying on the "public trough," Rauh said. "But on the other hand you don't want to make it so difficult that no one qualifies."

Commission members also warn against relying too heavily on another state's model because the sizes of; legislatures and length of terms differ and each state faces different factors.

"Maine is fortunate in some ways that they don't even have to consider using Boston television," said Rauh, who ran for U.S. Senate in 1992 against Republican Sen. Judd Gregg. "The people in Roxbury (Mass.) learn a hell of a lot about our candidates for governor."

The prevalence of outside groups that advertise against their opponents also has to be considered, he said.

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